Riding the wind of rebirth

The plate is decorated with a traditional passionflower scroll pattern around its perimeter, but in the center of the plate is a large rhombus resembling a window pattern. Inside the rhombus is a square outlined with two strokes, and inside the square is an artistic lettering that looks like a pattern.

"It is said that Emperor Zhengde was a Muslim, and a large number of porcelain pieces with palindromes were produced at that time," Ma Weidu explained. "What does this mean?"

“There is no god but God,” Zhou Zhi said. “However, this pattern is based on that Arabic phrase, but there are actually some differences and some errors in the text.”

"Huh? It can be like this?" Master Ma asked in surprise.

"Because the painters didn't understand Arabic, they simply memorized the text as a pattern. Over hundreds of years of transmission, they added a little here and subtracted a little there for the sake of aesthetics, and in the end it became 'seemingly true but actually false.' So if you strictly examine it according to the Arabic text, you will find that some parts are actually written incorrectly." Zhou Zhi laughed and said, "Fortunately, Emperor Zhengde probably wasn't very good at Arabic either, and he usually read translated works, so no one noticed."

Yan Zhenwei laughed and said: "In Li Song's 'Market Carrier and Infant Play Picture' from the Southern Song Dynasty, the peddler's carrying pole reads 'Just do good deeds, don't let your future be ruined,' which is actually a miswriting of 'Just do good deeds, don't ask about the future'—this also reflects the reality of the market at that time: the peddler was illiterate, and the person who wrote the advertisement for the peddler was also a half-baked person."

"Yes, what's most interesting is that Li Song didn't make any changes. In fact, he even deliberately and faithfully depicted the peddler's little flag in the painting, which actually made the painting more valuable for historical research."

"Mr. Yan specifically requested us, so why don't we hurry up and go see the painting?" Zhou Zhi said to Master Ma with a smile.

Besides those mentioned above, the remaining reign titles of the Ming Dynasty are Zhengtong, Jingtai, Tianshun, Taichang, and Chongzhen.

During the Zhengtong, Jingtai, and Tianshun reigns, no official kilns produced porcelain, which is why this period is known as the "blank period." Porcelain from this blank period has not yet received enough attention because there are no base marks for differentiation. It is difficult to distinguish between folk kiln pieces and quasi-official kiln pieces, and the large number of folk kiln pieces of varying quality has lowered the value of fine pieces.

This problem certainly doesn't exist in Zhouzhi. Therefore, the blank period of blue and white porcelain was once a great area for bargain hunting in Zhouzhi. Fei Guan entrusted a lot of it to antique shops all over the country, and what remains now are all fine pieces.

The same principle applies to Chongzhen blue and white porcelain. Although there are no reign marks, just like the Hongzhi "Made in the Year of Gui Chou" three-legged incense burner with a high mountain and flowing water design in Zhouzhi's collection, there are a very small number of Chongzhen blue and white porcelain pieces with reign marks and hall marks during the blank period, and their craftsmanship is no less than that of official kiln pieces.

These types of porcelain should be considered "quasi-official kilns" of these eras, as well as "standard dating pieces" of these eras. Even now, they are still undervalued, so Zhouzhi would certainly not miss such pieces.

Over the years, most of the porcelain pieces from the blank period and the Chongzhen blue and white porcelain that met this standard have ended up in Zhouzhi's possession.

Besides blue and white porcelain, there were many other types of porcelain in the Ming Dynasty, such as the sweet white glaze porcelain that Emperor Chengzu particularly loved, as well as the red glaze of Hongwu, the yellow glaze of Chenghua, the carved and filled glaze of Hongzhi, the white glaze of Zhengde, and the blue and white glaze with polychrome, doucai and chazi, which were all priceless at the time.

Zhou Zhi has several small cups in his collection. Any one of them, such as the Doucai "Rainbow Grape Cup," would be worth more than all the Ming blue and white porcelain. However, Master Ma has already studied those cups in detail, so we can skip them.

The only remaining reign title is Taichang. Taichang was the reign title of Emperor Guangzong of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Changluo. He adopted it after ascending the throne, but died after only one month on the throne, earning him the title of "One-Month Emperor." Therefore, it is impossible for him to have left behind any porcelain.

“Yes, the paintings on the porcelain were painted by the kiln workers. In terms of cultural level, the painters are naturally more skilled. Let’s go look at the paintings. I know that Zhouzhi has quite a few Ming Dynasty paintings in his collection.” Among Zhouzhi’s collections, the most well-known are probably the “Six Album Pages of Baiyang Qingteng” and Shitao’s 108 Arhats album.

The latter was acquired by Zhou Zhi in exchange for the courtyard house at Haichao Temple in the capital, which was owned by the painter Cui Ruzhuo, who had overseas living experience. This event caused a sensation in the Beijing art circle at the time.

The "Six Album of Landscapes, Flowers, and Birds by Baiyang Qingteng" is a collection of paintings by two pioneers of the freehand style of traditional Chinese painting, collected by Zhouzhi. Chen Chun's three paintings are "Wild Geese and Hollyhocks," "Many Children," and "Fisherman Gazing at the Rain." Xu Wei's paintings are "Upside-Down Wisteria," "Bamboo, Rocks, and Narcissus," and "Guo Suo."

The "Six Album Pages of Baiyang Qingteng" was meticulously restored by Zhou Zhi after he had mastered his restoration skills. It was also a significant investment made to gain the approval of Elder Wang and Elder Qi. When the two elders heard that Zhou Zhi had restored this album, they were astonished, fearing that the young man might ruin it due to his arrogance. They told Zhou Zhi to take the album to Beijing immediately. After seeing the album, they greatly praised it and took him to Rongbaozhai for exchange. As a result, this album is extremely famous in the collecting world and the calligraphy and painting circles.

Although both sets of albums are extremely famous and are representative works of renowned artists, they both have one problem: the individual images are relatively small, about the size of an A4 sheet of paper.

When Yan Zhenwei entered the Ming Dynasty painting and calligraphy gallery on this floor and saw the dazzling array of works, he was so shocked that he couldn't speak: "This, this, this..."

In addition to the two sets of albums, many paintings are also displayed in the hall.

Chen Chun's "Autumn Birds by the Willow Pond" and "Hibiscus and Ducks";
Xu Wei's "Ink Lotus" and "Banana and Rock";
Shi Tao's "Peach Blossom Spring", "Sailing to the Sun", "Lady of the Court Ladies", and "Ming Dynasty Rubbing of Zhang Menglong Stele";
Wang Fu's "Ancient Trees and Rocks";
Wen Zhengming's "New Autumn White Ramie";
Shen Zhou's "The Elegant Gathering at Kuaiji";
Huang Daozhou and Ni Yuanlu's "Shuangzhong Examination Paper";
Kun Can's "Bamboo Grove in the Mountains";
Bada Shanren's "Lotus, Stork, and Light Fish", "Perching Eagle", "Two Ducks in a Lotus Pond", "Landscape of Penglai"...

Many of these paintings are unknown to the outside world and are appearing before outsiders for the first time. However, their styles and collection sequences are extremely clear. To a connoisseur like Yan Zhenwei, they were both surprised and delighted. However, even with great joy, they could not hide their shock.

"Mr. Yan, you haven't heard of these paintings?" Zhou Zhi asked, somewhat puzzled by Yan Zhenwei's expression.

"Have many people seen these paintings?" Yan Zhenwei said with a wry smile, "That's because I'm ignorant..."

“That’s not what I meant,” Zhou Zhi quickly explained. “Chen Chun’s ‘Autumn Birds by Willow Pond’, ‘Hibiscus and Ducks’, Zhu Da’s ‘Pecking Eagle’, ‘Two Ducks in Lotus Pond’, and Xu Wei’s ‘Ink Lotus’ are all on paper. When I was exchanging restoration techniques with Rongbaozhai, I used the restoration materials provided by Rongbaozhai to restore these paintings.”

“The video was recorded at the time, and Rongbaozhai said they wanted to keep it as teaching material. So I thought everyone knew about it.”

Yan Zhenwei gritted her teeth in anger: "Then they're really tight-lipped!"

"The other paintings, such as Xu Wei's 'Banana and Rock,' Shi Tao's 'Peach Blossom Spring,' 'Sailing to the Sun,' 'Lady of the Court Ladies,' and Zhu Da's 'Landscape of Penglai,' were all on silk, making them much more difficult to restore than on paper. So we didn't dare to touch them at the time."

"It wasn't until later, after working with Master Yang from the Shu Brocade Restoration Research Institute to recover truly usable materials for restoring ancient silk fabrics, that I dared to begin restoring these paintings. These are the first time they've been shown to the public; they were previously unknown to the outside world." (End of Chapter)